you, I am sure.
You’ve already started
Do you find yourself building up the start of your essay? It is so easy to think I’ll start when I… fully understand the title/have completed all the reading/have really understood all of the issues/have got what I am going to write really clear. These are all understandable and sometimes backed up by the guidance that we pick up and pass on. But what really is an essay? An academic essay is a medium for displaying your scholarly, or learned, thinking about the issues identified in the title. If you have these thoughts, if you are reading this sentence, it looks like you have started your thinking which is part of and central to writing the essay. The essay does not start when your word count clocks up a certain number; it starts when we engage with the ideas that are relevant to the essay. So pat yourself on the back and encourage yourself like you would encourage someone you care about – if you are thinking, you are essaying. Perhaps you can jot down your thoughts.
Confusion is a friend not an imposter
It is easy to hate confusion – perhaps especially now when Siri, Google and Alexa instantly answer any questions that flit through our minds the moment we voice them. But wait, confusion is good – or at least constructive confusion is good. Confusion is constructive if we articulate it and use it to inform our thinking, reading and writing. Look at these three confused reactions in relation to essay titles and take a moment to note that they are actually helpful:
1 Essay title: ‘Critically evaluate Kelley’s Covariation Model of Causal Attribution.’Constructive confusion: ‘I don’t understand Kelley’s distinction between distinctiveness and consistency.’Why it is helpful: Most people mix these up – identifying the uncertainty is the first step to identifying the subtle difference between these two aspects of Kelley’s model. This will guide some of your reading and thinking and will mean that your essay has a clarity and understanding that would not be there if you had not identified this confusion.
2 Essay title: Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of longitudinal methods of investigation in developmental psychology research.Constructive confusion: ‘How can I critique longitudinal research when I am only aware of its strengths?’Why it is helpful: This demonstrates an awareness of the need to consider the research from different perspectives. This constructive confusion will inform the reading and note-taking undertaken (see Chapter 2 for more on this) and lead to a richer, more complete and more genuinely evaluative essay.
3 Essay title: Critically evaluate the Social Identity Theory perspective on why people engage in acts of aggression.Constructive confusion: ‘How can I write an essay on aggression when psychologists do not have one simple definition of what it actually is?’Why it is helpful: You have identified a really great critical point – that it is possible to question how we actually define our terms in psychology, not least how we define aggression (what do empirical studies treat as aggression), and what real-world scenarios (two men fighting, gang fights, drone warfare, riots) are we trying to explain. If this is confusion, try to get more of it. This sort of thinking can really supercharge your essays, informing some of your literature searches: ‘How has aggression been defined?’, ‘Critiquing definitions of aggression’, and providing a way of questioning fundamental assumptions in the specific material that you are evaluating in your essay.
Understanding why you procrastinate
It can be helpful to ask ourselves – as we might ask a friend – why we don’t start (or continue) with our essay right now. We should ask this in a sympathetic manner, as if we want to find out, rather than simply admonish ourselves – we probably do too much of that anyway. By identifying the different sorts of reasons why we allow ourselves to become distracted or otherwise procrastinate in our work, we can reach a better self-understanding. Instead of telling yourself off, you could first stop and ask: ‘What are the advantages of not writing my essay now?’
Stop What are the advantages of NOT starting my essay now?
If I delay, I can:
Make sure that I get it right
Avoid feeling anxious
Work (more effectively) under pressure
Do other things I have to do
Have fun now
Come back to it in a better frame of mind
List other reasons you can think of:
Make sure that I get it right
This is a core reason for not starting essays. The thought that you want to get it right comes from a good place – it is your inner editor who is keen to ensure the quality of your work. Being keen to do really good work will certainly come in handy, especially when you are editing a draft of your essay, so acknowledge this feeling, but do not let it stop you from starting. It is usually much easier to edit a draft – even if it is far from perfect – than to try to produce high-quality writing from scratch. If this thought is leading you to delay your essay, then you need to start putting words on the page, knowing that later on you will look at it with this more critical, editorial eye.
Exercise
Your inner editor
What does your inner editor say to you? What can you say to your inner editor?
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How can I get started?
Any start is a much better place than not starting at all. So rather than aiming for perfection, aim for some imperfect start – your inner editor can come into the picture later. Think of the essay that you feel you should be working on. Now, without checking notes and textbooks, journal papers or social media, just write for three minutes on that topic.
Exercise
The three-minute challenge
It’s only 180 seconds – time yourself and write something imperfect but relevant for the essay you are (or should be) working on. You might write an idea that you have, identify a debate or disagreement, write some name or theory that you can remember, or write a question that you have about the title.
Bullet points may help right now, as we tend to be less perfectionist when putting down thoughts in this format.
My ideas about my essay:
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